bookcurios Chapter 198 Confrontation Queen
Chapter 198 Confrontation Queen
Before Zhao Fangyu could leave the palace, he was stopped by people from Fengyi Palace.
The person who came was the old maid beside the queen. She had her hair tied into a round bun and was as well-behaved as a puppet. Her every move was measured with a ruler.
The old maid spoke politely and her attitude was respectful. Zhao Fangyu knew that the old maids around these masters were all very prestigious. Since the old maids were so polite, the Queen's purpose of this visit was probably similar.
Benzoin was lit in Fengyi Palace. The smell was a bit strong, but it couldn't cover up the bitter smell of Chinese medicine.
The queen was putting medicine into her mouth spoonful by spoonful. Someone behind her was helping her take off her crown and jewelry and change into some casual bun.
Zhao Fangyu had never seen such a queen. It was as if she had taken off her armor and finally revealed her true face, but this face was covered with a layer of impenetrable mist. She seemed close, but in fact distant.
Zhao Fangyu sat for a while, waiting for the queen to finish drinking the medicine.
"What did Rong'er tell you?"
The Queen's tone was flat. Zhao Fangyu silently placed Zhou Lingrong's princess seal on the table: "The princess gave the seal to me."
The queen was silent for a long while. The maid behind her combed her hair silently and left. The queen also changed into her casual clothes and slowly walked out of the house into the sun.
The bright sunlight was blazing, and the queen only looked at it for a moment before the old lady who had just led Zhao Fangyu said, "Your Majesty, be careful not to hurt your eyes."
Perhaps it was because the sun was too strong, Zhao Fangyu saw the queen wiping her cheek with her back to her.
When she turned around, the queen was still the dignified and generous queen.
The queen's everyday clothes could not hide her years of majesty. She approached Zhao Fangyu and put out her hand to touch the seal that Zhao Fangyu had dropped on the table, as if she was reluctant to let go.
"Since she gave it to you, you should keep it well."
"That child has always been distrustful. Don't let her down."
Zhao Fangyu nodded, thinking of Zhou Qinghe, and finally asked, "The princess asked me to take care of the little princess."
"But with the Queen here, Princess has nothing to worry about. Why does she need us?"
The queen glanced at Zhao Fangyu indifferently, her dark eyes as deep as water. Just one glance made the hairs on Zhao Fangyu's back stand up.
Zhao Fangyu did not show any fear. He still had a faint smile on his face and did not put the things away.
A princess's seal, a thousand private soldiers, and ten thousand fiefs, these things were just icing on the cake for Zhao Fangyu.
Her efforts are not equal to her rewards.
She wanted the Queen to express her opinion. She wanted to know whether this was the Queen's intention or Zhou Lingrong's.
The power represented by Zhou Lingrong was too small, so small that it had little influence on the court, but the queen was different.
She had to ensure that the Queen would not be desperate and turn to help the Third Prince.
Just as Zhao Fangyu thought, perhaps with Zhou Lingrong's endorsement, the Queen's attitude finally softened.
"In fact, at first, I was not optimistic about the second brother. He was too stupid, too weak, and too eager to be recognized by his father."
"Whether it's the eldest or the third oldest, their paths are smoother than the second oldest."
"But they are too much like their father... I don't feel comfortable putting Rong'er and Rou'er's future in their hands."
The empress did not have much opportunity to choose, and the emperor would not give her any choice. Leaving behind the unintelligent Zhou Lingrou was the emperor's last kindness to his children.
The queen's eyes gradually became lonely, as if she was recalling the past. Zhao Fangyu did not disturb her and just listened quietly.
"It was Rong'er who chose you. Rong'er felt that you still had some popularity, unlike those people who completely forgot about propriety and honor in order to climb higher and further."
"Don't let Rong'er down. She has been cautious since she was young. She doesn't even trust her own maternal family. In the end, she would rather marry into a foreign clan than stay in Kyoto."
The Queen's memory lasted only a brief moment before she withdrew on her own and instead gave Zhao Fangyu a warning that seemed to be both a warning and a consolation.
Did she think that by showing her vulnerability and expressing her feelings, she could trick her into sympathizing with the mother of a country?
Zhao Fangyu slowly put down the teacup and his eyes fell on the exquisite tribute carpet in front of him. The cashmere material made it silent when stepped on. The intricate patterns required craftsmen to work day and night and go blind to make such a perfect and gorgeous handicraft.
But Zhao Fangyu is not a naive young lady. She has seen blood and many different kinds of people wearing different masks.
It was ridiculous for the Queen to want to bring her under her wing in this way.
"Don't you know why Her Royal Highness the Princess doesn't get close to the Ouyang family?"
Zhao Fangyu's words made the Queen's expression freeze for a moment.
"Your Highness probably knows better than me why the eldest princess married far away. A weight is not heavy at both ends, and there is no perfect world. If your Highness likes and wants to cherish her, it is your business."
"If the princess doesn't like it and doesn't want to, it's her business. Children of the royal family are born noble, and it's only natural for them to sacrifice for the people. If it's for others... then what does it count?"
The Queen herself was born into the Ouyang family and has been a pawn of the Ouyang family all her life. Now she has to train her children to become pawns of the Ouyang family. Does this mean that the Ouyang family wants to control the royal bloodline from generation to generation?
Zhou Lingrong knew all of this. She saw through the emperor and the queen, but in the end, in order to protect her sister and the queen, she chose the path of marriage.
Daliang can produce a queen from the Ouyang family, but it cannot produce another princess who will fight for the interests of the Ouyang family.
It was because Zhao Fangyu saw through all of this that he felt pity for Zhou Lingrong.
Sure enough, the palace is a cannibalistic city. Anyone who is inside has a hard life. It looks like a feast for the eyes, but in reality it is torture day and night.
"She is my child after all, she should be of the same mind as me!"
"So the princess is going to marry Muskli."
With just one sentence, the queen was speechless.
The queen thought about it for a long time, but in the end she still couldn't figure out why Zhou Lingrou was unwilling to accept the olive branch from the Ouyang family and would rather marry Sheli than obey the Ouyang family's arrangements.
The smile on Zhao Fangyu's face gradually faded. She didn't quite understand why the Queen couldn't see through something that Zhou Lingrong could see through.
"Who do you think the princess is marrying for?"
Zhou Lingrong's marriage to a distant place could not have been out of pity for the people of Daliang, nor could it have been to share the emperor's worries.
The Queen did not understand Zhou Lingrong's painstaking efforts and simply thought that the child had grown up and become independent.
Zhao Fangyu looked at the queen deeply, and Aunt Qian's face flashed inexplicably in his mind.
"My aunt is willing to do anything for me. She suffered all her life, but she doesn't want me to repeat the same mistakes."
"What about your Majesty? Your love for the princess means that she will become a chess piece, being manipulated by others without freedom, and even having no control over her own likes and dislikes?"
"So does the queen love the princess, or the one who locked you up?"
"Parents who love their children will make long-term plans for them. What has Your Majesty planned for the princess?"